On Friday, members from environmental groups, community members and local high school and college students took to the streets to protest the gas distribution company NW Natural for its efforts to send a recently-passed natural gas ban in new low-rise buildings in Eugene to a public vote.
In a statement responding to the ban, NW Natural said the ban eliminated energy choice in Eugene.
Since then, a political action committee called Eugene Residents for Energy Choice has fully funded a campaign to petition the city council to put its natural gas ban ordinance up to public vote.
According to ORESTAR, Eugene Residents for Energy Choice is fully funded by NW Natural, which has contributed over $674,000 to the PAC.
According to Fossil Free Eugene’s Instagram page, the strike was meant to “call out NW Natural’s campaign to roll back climate policy in Eugene.”
The march started at the University of Oregon Law building around noon and continued to Kesey Square in downtown Eugene.
Protesters with megaphones chanted phrases like, “NW Natural, our future is not for sale,” as they marched from the University of Oregon campus down 13th and 11th.
UO’s Climate Justice League was one of the groups that joined in the strike. “We’re trying to call attention to climate justice,” CJL member Isa Eisenberg said.
Tomoko Sekiguchi, a member of an advocacy campaign in Eugene called Climate Revolutions by Bike, said she was marching with Fossil Free Eugene and the organizations surrounding them.
“It’s not about energy choice, it’s about climate choice,” Sekiguchi said.
Danny Noonan is the co-founder of the Breach Collective, an environmental nonprofit.
He said it’s time people protested NW Natural’s actions and the actions of its local allies.
Noonan said Breach is looking at a long campaign to protect this ordinance if it’s put on a ballot measure.
He said people need to focus on not just the big emitters but the local climate villains in the community.
In a post on its Twitter, Breach Collective said the climate strike sought to call out Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, Funk/Levis ad agency and Travel Lane County for “working with NW Natural to derail local climate policy.”
Editor’s note: Jamie Diep contributed to the reporting in this story.
